


Heart to Heart

by chasethewind



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Extended Scene, F/M, Forgiveness, Friendship, Heart-to-Heart, Missing Scene, Season/Series 05, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-03 08:35:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8705260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasethewind/pseuds/chasethewind
Summary: Prompt: hope-for-olicity: It would be neat to see Felicity acknowledge that she liked seeing Oliver support and forgive Barry and how impressed she was





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so originally I was going to hold off this prompt until my 12 Days of Christmas challenge started. (BTW, you should totally go submit prompts if you haven't already. Check out my Tumblr - befitandchase - and hit the ask button. I'm taking anything Olicity, and after last night's episode, I've got feels for both Kara/Felicity and Kara/Sara, so if you got any of those, I'd be more than happy to write them!) There was just something about this prompt that I couldn't stop thinking about so I said "screw it" and just wrote the damn thing today. Hope you enjoy it.

This wasn't the first time Felicity had been caught off guard by a major confession. She was used to Oliver revealing parts of his life under dire circumstances, but never Barry. His acknowledgement of changing the timeline, altering their lives after Stein and Jax discovered that recording made her heart sink and made her wonder just how much of her life had changed because of his rash decision.

But then something mind-blowing happened. Oliver stood up for him, put his faith in him, continued to trust him even after everything he had heard. It was rare for him to do something like that. Oliver was, after all, the king of wary. Unless he was a hundred percent sure, he never put his trust or faith in anyone until they had proved themselves. Judging by the events that unfolded in the hanger, Barry had earned his trust and his backing, and that was something that warmed Felicity's heart.

She was about to pull Oliver aside and thank him for what he'd done, but he was already walking after Barry. The anguish in the speedster's face must have had an effect on Oliver if he kept going, much like the way he understood her. That pang of longing she had done so well suppressing returned with a vengeance. Even though they were no longer together, he still had that instinct to confront her when she wasn't herself, even ask her about her day in a more plutonic sense, but it still got to her, especially now, seeing him go after Barry in what she assumed was an attempt to console him.

 _Wow_ , Felicity thought, _Oliver really had grown a lot in the past six months_. She turned back to her temporary monitors, keeping an eye on where her friends were headed even as she focused on the more pressing situation at hand. One of the screens on her computer followed Barry and Oliver back to the Cortex, through the maze of hallways, and to a secret room only Barry knew how to access.

"I didn't think about it, Oliver…" she could hear Barry say through her left earpiece, the one she'd switched over to the room they were now in, surreptitiously listening in on their conversation. Felicity knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help it. Instinct told her she needed to hear this, that whatever was said in that room might make up for Barry's lapse in judgement. Besides, she was curious as to what Oliver had to say. He might have been on Barry's side, but that didn't spare the younger man from one of his lectures.

"I didn't think about the future. I was so focused on the past that I didn't think about it until now. I changed so much." Felicity could hear the depth of Barry's regret in the tone of his voice. She knew it was probably killing him inside, eating away at him much like some of her choices ate away at her. Not telling Oliver about Malone was one of the more recent things she felt the need to apologize for over and over again. While he'd been straight up honest with her about everything since their break up, she had resorted to hiding things. Somehow, in the past six months, they seemed to have traded places. Oliver had become the more open one while she kept secrets. It ate away at Felicity far more than she cared to admit.

"What is this?" Oliver's voice on her earpiece made her glance over at the screen where she could see a vast majority of the room he and Barry stood in. On the far back wall was a projecting of some kind of newspaper article. While she couldn't make out much more than the headline reading "FLASH MISSING. VANISHES IN CRISIS" and Barry's masked face, she knew it was important.

"This is… an article from the future. It's a story about me vanishing. It used to be written by Iris West-Allen, but now I don't know. Something's… Something's changed with Iris. Something's changed with our future. God… What did I do?"

Oliver was quick to interrupt his diatribe of self loathing and regret. "Barry, this is a weird looking newspaper article. It doesn't mean anything. You need… You need to stop beating yourself up over this," he replied, earnestly pushing his friend to understand, but not really getting anywhere.

"I'm sorry, but how can you say that?" Barry shot back. Felicity could hear the bitterness in his voice. He wasn't very receptive to Oliver's attempt at being understanding and open minded about the situation. "I'm responsible for all this," he added.

"Maybe. Maybe not," Oliver reasoned. "Barry, you made a choice. You wanted to see your parents alive again. Do you… Do you honestly know anyone that if they were in your shoes wouldn't do the exact same thing? I would do the exact same thing."

He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts before he continued. "Barry, as the Gambit went down, it was me, my father, and a crewmember on a life raft lost at sea. Enough food and water for one person, maybe. My father took a gun, shot the crewmember, told me to survive, and then turned the gun on himself. He shot himself in the head. He sacrificed himself so that I could live. Nothing I could do. No choice."

That was one story Felicity had only heard once, while she and Oliver were on their trip around the world. One night, a strong storm rolled in off the sea, thunder booming and lightning flashing at almost a constant rate. She had woken up to cold sheets and an empty void beside her where Oliver would be. At first she thought nothing of it, figuring he had probably gotten up to go to the bathroom or maybe get a glass of water, but as the minutes ticked away and the storm raged on, he didn't return.

Sitting up in bed, Felicity had looked around their suite, her blurry eyes unable to see much in the patches of light thrown out by the storm. The sound of a cry in the darkness near the window caught her attention after a particularly loud crash of thunder rattled the walls. Her eyes immediately focused on the spot and through the flashes of light, she found Oliver huddled on the floor, his knees to his chest, arms wrapped around his legs, shaking with his eyes screwed shut. Leaping from the bed, she made her way to him, careful not to startle him as she kneeled down on the bare hardwood.

"Oliver," she had whispered, reaching out, but not actually touching him. He had warned her about the nightmares, about how violent he could get while in the midst of one. Felicity had heeded his warnings in the past, but tonight felt different. She had never found Oliver on the floor like that, and instinct told her to do whatever she could to comfort him. "Oliver, hon, it's me, Felicity. It's okay, I'm here," she said, hoping her voice would calm him enough to open his eyes.

"Felicity?" he had murmured, his muscles visibly relaxing. A few moments later, Oliver opened his eyes and she could still see the sheer terror within their blue depths even in the darkness.

"Hi," Felicity said, her lips parting in a smile as she scooted closer. Her hand fell to his arm before slowly inching up until it cupped his face. Oliver exhaled a shaky breath. His eyes fluttered shut again then he finally relaxed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Felicity curled up beside him, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her face into his chest. "It's okay," she replied. "You never have to apologize for having a bad dream. I just want you to know, if you ever want to talk about it, I'm always here to listen."

A smile tired smile graced Oliver's face as he bent down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "I know," he said. That was when he broke down and told her about the nightmare, about how his father had killed himself in order for him to have a chance at survival. It was one conversation Felicity would never forget, and hearing it again made her heart ache just as much as it had that night.

She wanted to run to him, to wrap her arms around him and hold him tight, but they weren't in a place to do that… yet. Maybe someday Felicity would be able to run up to him again for a long, tight hug, but not right now. Besides, it sounded like Oliver wasn't done yet.

"Slade Wilson drove a sword right through my mother's heart, in front of my sister and I," he continued, looking directly at Barry who stared back intently as Oliver went on with his story. "I was there. I was helpless on the ground. I was powerless to stop it. No choice. You do not think I would give anything to go back and make things different?"

A single tear dripped down Felicity's cheek as she heard the conviction in his voice. She knew Oliver wasn't just talking about his family. He was talking about the mistakes he'd made in their relationship as well. She, too, would give anything to go back and fix things before they blew up in their faces.

"You never told me that," Barry quietly replied, his head dropping to look at his feet for a moment before looking back up at Oliver.

"Barry, the world isn't different because you changed the timeline. Change happens. Tragedy happens. People make choices, and those choices affect everyone else. You're not a god, Barry," Oliver assured him. His profound statements didn't just hit Barry, they hit Felicity as well. Her heart soared with pride. Oliver really had grown up a lot in these past six months, and she couldn't have been more proud of the way he'd handled the current situation.

Unfortunately, she didn't get to bask in her joy for long. The sound of an explosion from somewhere a little too close for comfort had her attention refocusing on the other screens of her monitors. Star Labs was being attacked by none other than their own team. Oliver and Barry came running past, Oliver stopping to grab his quiver and bow before sprinting off after him. Felicity took the opportunity to grab his attention for a moment.

Shooting up off her seat, she ran to him, her arms flying around his shoulders for that hug she didn't think she was ready for yet. But she was, and even though Oliver stood there dumbfounded for a moment, he wrapped his arms around her as well and held on tight. "I'm proud of you," Felicity whispered.

"Thank you," Oliver whispered back.

She gave him one last squeeze before letting go. "Get our friends back," Felicity ordered, her smile betraying the fear she felt on the inside.

"I will," he promised before turning to run after Barry toward the front of the building.


End file.
